Stamberger



United States Patent 3,123,075 DIAPER INSERTS Paul Stamberger, 1010 St. Paul St., Baltimore, Md. Filed July 25, 1956, Ser. No. 600,061 1 Claim. (Cl. 128287) This invention relates to diaper inserts. Its object is to provide a disposable diaper insert which acts both to protect the diaper from soiling by feces, and at the same time acts to protect outer garments and/or bedclothes from becoming wet and soiled from contact with urine soaked diapers.

In conventional practice, if it is desired to protect diapers from soiling by feces, soft paper inserts are placed inside the diaper. These do not, of course, prevent the diaper from being saturated with urine, and wetting and soiling bedclothes or outer garments. For such protection, rubber pants are almost universally used.

It has been proposed to use water-repellent papers inside a diaper to combine the two desired properties; but these have proved unsuccessful. Liquid urine invariably escapes past such a barrier, to wet the diaper and hence the bedclothes. Multiple layers of paper backed by water-repellant layer will do the job, but are far too expensive, and too bulky for comfort, and are diflicult to dispose of, the inserts being much too bulky to flush down a conventional toilet drain.

According to the present invention, I produce an economical diaper insert which both obviates the necessity for rubber pants and prevents soiling of the diaper by feces, which is readily disposable by flushing down a toilet drain, and which is removable from the diaper in one piece even after overnight exposure on a wet infant.

My new insert comprises a two part sheet about twice the size of a folded diaper, one half of which is adapted to lay between the diaper and the skin, to hold feces and pass urine while being resistant enough to urine so that it can be pulled away from the diaper substantially intact; the second half is adapted to be inserted in the diaper near its outer fold, and is both resistant to the passage of urine from a sodden diaper, and limp enough, after exposure to water in a toilet bowl, to flush down. Most desirably, the second half is a material which is made to be pervious to the passage of Water vapor, so that the diaper breathes, whereby diaper rash is reduced, and the material is more readily made limp when put into a toilet bowl. An important function of the bottom urine impervious part is to keep the feces protective and urine pervious part in position during the use of the diaper and prevent the insert from slipping to a position where its usefulness is impaired; it acts also as a handle to permit stripping of the urine pervious portion from the diaper.

The invention can best be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a view of a diaper with one form of my insert in place, ready for folding;

FIG. 2 is an elevation of a folded diaper.

A conventional diaper 18, divisible into six parts A, B, C, D, E, 'F, is laid out, and the insert is then laid on it. The insert 10 is about twice the size of the folded diaperi.e. about one third the size of the diaper, and consists of a urine passing half and a urine resistant half 16, each approximating the size of the folded diaper. Tabs 12 may be provided to permit pulling out of the insert.

The urine resistant portion 16 of the insert is laid out on the portion E of the diaper, which is then folded downward over the portion 16, and then twice sideward over the center. The urine passing portion 20 of the insert is then folded over the top of the diaper, to be in position against the skin of the infant, to protect the diaper from "Ice staining. By this manner of folding, the portion 16 holds the portion 20 firmly in place, preventing slippage.

The urine passing portion of the sheet may be any material which permits the passage of urine, and is at the same time sufliciently resistant so that it will not disintegrate when exposed to urine, to a point where it cannot be lifted from the wet diaper substantially intact. Paper made with viscose or starch binders, or partially treated with resins to improve wet strength, is adequate for the purpose. Or it may be a plastic sheeting such as cellulose acetate, ethyl cellulose or polyethylene or paper coated with these or other plastics, perforated to permit passage of urine, as disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 599,980 filed July 25, 1956, now Patent No. 3,073,308. The important thing about this section of the insert is that it hold the feces and absorb or pass the urine, without becoming too weak to be removable from a urine soaked diaper in one piece.

The water impervious, thus urine retaining portion of the sheet is preferably of the same material as the urine passing portion, but handled in such a manner as to be urine retaining. If the urine passing sheet is water absorbent paper, the urine retaining portion is coated or treated to make it resistant to the liquid in the sodden diaper, preferably in such fashion that it passes air and water vapor freely. If the urine passing portion is a perforated plastic, suificient resistance to passage of urine can generally be obtained merely by not perforating the plastic.

As indicated above, I get far superior results when my insert is made so that the urine-resistant layer is pervious to air and water vapors. One such group of materials comprises paper with discontinuous coatings of water repellent materials such as organic silicone compounds, waxes, polyethylene, fatty acids, fatty acid amides and the like. Such papers have the additional advantage that when dropped in a toilet bowl, they become limp rapidly, Whereas papers fully impregnated with such water repellent materials either never become limp, or do so very slowly. In determining the degree of coating necessary, it should be noted that the folds of the diaper absorb much of the urine, so there is no real hydrostatic head to hold; all that is necessary is that the coating prevent wetting through from the wet diaper folds inside to the dry diaper fold outside.

A second group of excellent coating materials comprises those materials Which swell but do not disintegrate with water, such as gelatine, polyvinyl alcohol and partially saponified polyvinyl acetate, carboxy methyl cellulose, zein and regenerated cellulose, or films of other materials containing these materials in sufiicient quantities. When these materials are used to give even continuous coatings on paper, they produce films which readily pass water vapor but retain urine in a diaper. Such of these materials as give satisfactory unsupported films can also be used as the material of the insert, if the urine-passing half be perforated.

In general, I prefer not to use inserts above about .020 inch in thickness, since heavier inserts are difiicult to flush down a conventional toilet drain. But I may use as thin a material as is consistent with strength requirements.

In any form of my invention, I get the advantages of resistance to feces staining, and elimination of the necessity for rubber pants. In the preferred form of my in vention, there is the additional great advantage of breathability, whereby diaper rash due to lack of circulation of air is markedly reduced.

Obviously, changes can be made in the specific forms of invention disclosed herein without departing from the scope thereof as defined in the claim.

I claim:

A protective insert for a diaper, which is conventionally folded into multiple plies, comprising a thin sheet of paper foldable into two halves each the size of the folded diaper, one half of which is capable of holding feces on its surface and freely passing urine when placed on the inside of a folded diaper, and which becomes limp rapidly on being laid in water as in a toilet how}, but is suificiently resistant to urine to be strippable wet from a wet diaper in substantially intact form, and a second half which is urine resistant by reason of a film of coating material which is insoluble in cold Water but is swollen thereby, so as to be capable of preventing passage of urine through the insert to the outside of the diaper when the insert is disposed in the diaper toward its outside, but which coat- 15 ing film passe-s water vapor freely, but does notprevent the paper from absorbing water and becoming limp rapidly when the insert is laid in a body of liquid Water as in a toilet bowl, whereby the insert will prevent leakage of urine through the diaper, but will be strippa-ble wet from the diaper and be flushable down a toilet drain by reason of the limpness it acquires on being laid in water.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 318,141 Samuel May 19, 1885 342,043 Samuel May 8, 188 6 2,119,610 Tasker June'7, 1938 2,570,011 Stamberger .Oct. 2, I951 

